Mekaku City Gamers
by minichen
Summary: Nine children. Nine eyes. One virtual reality to save. Join the Mekakushi Dan in their adventures in the virtual world of Elsword as they complete the game step by step to get stronger and defeat the final boss, Code: KUR0H4 to save the system. (Haha...I suck at summaries TTwTT. Code KUR0H4 is so creative I know XD. Warning: Update rate may be extremely unsteady.)
1. Descriptions

**Mini: This is for all of you peeps reading Mekaku City Gamers to get an idea as to what the characters look like so that I don't have to fill 99% of the story with it! :D**

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**#1 - Kido: **

**Character -** Aisha

**Advancements - **(Secret)

**Description - **Looks a lot like Kido, hair is the same as Kido's in real life. Top piece is Kido's hoodie, bottom is a green knee-high skirt. Under the top piece is a shirt like Kido's, covering a lot of her face. Shoes are a mix between Aisha's and Kido's. They have one color, but have laces. Weapon is a mainly a darker purple and has a dark magenta color as the secondary.

**Color Scheme (Main-Secondary)- **Purple - Green

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**#2 - Kano:**

**Character - **Add

**Advancements - **(Secret)

**Description - **Gold-blonde hair. Top piece is mainly dark grey, buttons are white, everything else is light grey. Undershirt is default but with white lines and power button instead. Bottom piece is black jeans. Shoes are grey and light grey. Belt is black. Eye with the power symbol on it has more of what Kano's eyes look like in real life, but are red and still have the vague power symbol on it. Scar/crack going through power button eye is red. Gloves are the same but have light grey instead of purple.

**Color Scheme - **Black - Any Grey or White

* * *

**#3 - Seto:**

**Character - **Rena (Gender Changed)

**Advancements - **Sniping Ranger - Grand Archer

**Description - **Hair and face are like in real life. Basically genderbent Rena with a dark green and black scheme. Blue is replaced by white.

**Color Scheme - **Dark Green - Black

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**#4 - Mary:  
Character - **Eve

**Advancements - **(Secret)

**Description - **Hair and face are like in real life. Pink areas are now a very light red and black/dark grey areas are now a light pink. Gem is pink. Drones: Remy has a pink interior and Moby is pink with a white interior.

**Color Scheme - **White - Pink

* * *

**#5 - Momo:**

**Character - **Ara

**Advancements - **Little Hsien - Sakra Devanam

**Description - **Hair and face are like in real life. White areas on costume are now light pink.

**Color Scheme - **Orange - Pink

* * *

**#6 - Takane:  
Character - **Raven (Gender Changed)

**Advancements - **(Secret)

**Description - **Same hair as in real life. Face more like Takane's. Everything else is default except for chest area, a bandage covering it.

**Color Scheme - **Default

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**#7 - Shintaro: **

**Character - **Elsword

**Advancements - **(Secret)

**Description - **Default clothing. Hair and face is like in real life.

**Color Scheme - **Default

* * *

**#8 - Hibiya:**

**Character - **Chung

**Advancements - **(Secret)

**Description - **Armor plates are light blue instead of white. Alternate color for the blue areas are white. Hair and face is like in real life. Fury mode has light red "hair" instead of blue.

**Color Scheme - **Light Blue

* * *

**#9 - Haruka:**

**Character - **Elesis (Gender Changed)

**Advancements - **Saber Knight - Grand Master

**Description - **Hair and face is like real life. Everything red on Elesis is turned into pale green.

**Color Scheme - **Pale Green


	2. Prologue

**Mini: Heyyo! Here with a story after a million years!**

**Kido: About time...*whacks Mini in the face* WHY DO I HAVE THE GIRLY CHARACTER, EH?**

**Mini: S-Sorry! I-It was the only option! D-Don't worry though, yours is edited to your liking...**

**Kido: Better...**

**Kano: *laughing***

**Kido: *punches Kano* Shut up**

**Kano: Ow.**

**Mini: My friend helped me with the opening and edited a few things for me, so yeah. owo**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Kagerou Project or Elsword! They belong to their respected owners!**

* * *

"Ack!" Shintaro scrambled backwards as the monster lunged forward. A sword flashed out from the side and stabbed straight through the monster, cleaving it in two.

Takane smirked smugly. "Need a hand, _Master_?" She taunted him mockingly.

Shintaro narrowed his eyes and stood up by himself. "I'm fine."

The rest of the Mekakushi Dan burst through the woods.

"Slow down, Takane!" Haruka said pleadingly, with a hint of a whine in his voice. "We can't keep up! You and Shintaro can fight each other some other time."

Takane sighed. "Fine…"

Mary frantically scanned the clearing, looking apprehensive and nervous. "Uuuu…where's the big scary boss thing?"

Seto smiled reassuringly. "It's okay, I'll protect you when it does come."

Kido methodically scrutinized the clearing. "Where _is_ this boss?" She directed the question toward Shintaro and Takane. "Haven't you two beaten it before?"

Kano suppressed a snicker. "God, I still can't get over how girly that character is-"

Kido slammed her foot into his stomach, sending him flying across the clearing and smacking into a tree.

"It'll be here soon," Shintaro promised.

Momo eyed her older brother suspiciously. "Are you sure, Onii-chan? I saw what it was like when you _first_ tried to beat this-"

Hibiya's eyes widened and he desperately gestured to the left. "Guys! Over there!"

Everybody whipped their heads to the direction Hibiya was pointing. A large man emerged from the forest. He had an enormous, muscular build, shown off by his tight fitting clothing. his hair was long and light brown, reaching down to his shoulders. His face bore a huge, arrogant grin, as if he was positive that there was no way that he could lose. He held a large, gleaming bronze sword propped on to his shoulder.

"He reminds me of Kano," Kido muttered.

Very close by, a ray of light bounced off a small object. Upon seeing this, the man's mouth stretched into a large smile as he blocked out every other sound around him, even the approaching players. Absent-mindedly dragging his sword on the ground, the man began to walk toward the small object. The Dan however, were loudly complaining and arguing about their approach on the boss.

"We have to go from there!" Shintaro growled, his eyes narrowed at Takane.

"And I say over there!" Takane replied, growling back.

"Okay, let's just stop. And think," Kido said, interrupting their quarrel.

* * *

Slowly approaching the man, the Dan slowly thought of a plan of what they were going to do in their heads. When they had finally reached the boss area, a large, blaring red text read, DANGER! Banthus!

The Dan went into an offensive position, Shintaro and Takane in the lead. Banthus was only a hand reach away when he saw the players approach, scowling and muttering a curse under his breath, he swung around and immediately jumped on the first player he saw, "You punks, wasting my time like this," he growled, sneering at the struggled look on the player's face.

Identifying the player, he gathered that it was a level 4 Elsword, his hair a messy black and his gear default. Leaping backwards, Banthus quickly turned around to double check if the shining object was still there. Confirming it, he focused his attention on the players and charged toward them, grinning madly. Kano stomped the ground and kicked out a wave of electricity with a white-grey color and using his grey-black dynamos, a very cat-like smile on his face as he continued kicking.

"Oi, baka, don't steal all the kills," Kido shouted at him, teleporting behind Banthus and whacking him with her staff a couple of times.

Mary and Momo stood at the sidelines, idly watching the other members clash with the boss and watching the bright green bar over his head slowly go down. "Sh-Should we help?" Mary stuttered, a slightly worried look on her face.

"Hmmm… I think they're fine," Momo replied, sitting down onto the grassy clearing with her orange-pink spear on her lap.

Hibiya shrugged, coming up next to them. "I don't think they need us."

"Oi!" Momo protested, pointing a finger at him. "You don't get to cop out!"

"What?" Hibiya was adamant. "Why not?"

Momo shoved him into the fray. "Because!"

Hibiya stumbled forward and almost smacked into Haruka, but he jumped out of the way just in time.

Giving Momo an annoyed look, he charged toward Banthus with his destroyer in both hands, "Reload!" Hibiya shouted as he swung his weapon to smack Banthus.

Steadily preparing his destroyer, Hibiya immediately cried, "Lunatic Blow!" as he smacked his cannon onto the ground, firing cannonballs at the same time.

Seto steadied his bow, preparing to use a skill to help with the boss as continuous clashes and explosions appeared. "Multiple Stinger!" he cried, firing three large green arrows and pausing before firing another round. The green bar over Banthus's head lowered to a neon yellow color, the explosions continued. Takane steadied her metal Nasod arm, firing large explosions at Banthus as he desperately searched for an opening. Grinning, Takane stopped and immediately went into a charging pose, "Power Assault!" she yelled, a sharp blue field immediately formed in front of her as she charged toward the boss.

The attack critically hit Banthus as he flew backwards, plummeting onto his back. A small portion of health in a bright red on his health bar. Panting, Banthus clenched his teeth and said, "I don't have time for you punks!"

Shintaro and Takane turned around, simultaneously shouting, "THE NEXT BOSS IS COMING!"

The Dan nodded their heads as they maintained their offensive positions. Mary and Momo leapt to the back, holding a bit of a wobbly pose as they were not used to this kind of video game. Haruka firmly gripped his large sword, a determined look in his eyes as he turned to Takane and said, "Ne, Takane. Can we go out to eat after this?"

Takane's face turned a light shade of red as she stuttered, "F-Fine! B-But make sure you d-don't eat so much..." turning back to Banthus, she narrowed her eyes.

Haruka gave his usual bright and dazzling smile. "Sounds good!"

Takane made a sound like something was stuck in her throat and quickly turned away from him, hiding her quickly reddening cheeks.

Hibiya panted and sat down, his destroyer practically oversizing him and being extremely heavy to swing around, "I'd probably die if I held this in real life," he sighed, sitting on his light blue plated destroyer as he watched the fight.

* * *

Mary timidly looked at the two small drones next to her, one mainly having a white design with a pink exterior and a white interior. The other drone had a pink exterior and a white interior. Slowly raising her hands, each drone followed her movement and floated above her hands as she carefully held them out in front of her. Quickly swinging her hand as a test, the white drone swung forward and immediately whipped through the air, returning to its mistress's hands. Mary slowly walked up to the boss, putting the drones aside as she saw a tip window next to her that instructed to use her finger to shoot an electron ball. Following each step, Mary managed to create one electron ball as it quickly zoomed outwards, travelling a small distance and vanishing as soon as it had been created. Mary's eyes opened in excitement and wonder, slowly getting used to each step to summon the shiny blue ball. With a confident smile, Mary rushed into battle, "I-Illusion Ray!" she stuttered loudly as a bright white beam appeared from her fingertips.

The laser immediately shot through Banthus in a heartbeat, depleting the small amount of health he had left above his head.

"Good job, Mary!" Seto smiled as he looked at Mary.

Mary blushed slightly from the compliment, before she could open her mouth she was interrupted by Shintaro.

"It's not over yet," he called back.

Instead of disintegrating into a group of pixels like all of the other monsters, Banthus whipped around for a mad dash to the shiny object. Cackling as he held the crystal in his hands, he turned to the Dan and sneered, "No need to waste my time here now, I've got the El," he leaped into the air while throwing down a small shiny object onto the ground.

As soon as Banthus had escaped, the shiny object immediately turned into a large beast that had dirty white fur and its sharp ears tipped in a fading purple. It had large paws with purple claws on them and a slightly long tail. Its face had a painted expression of a growl, its red eyes narrowed and its sharp jaws in a snarl. As soon as it had appeared, a name plate appeared above its health bar.

"White Giant Phoru, huh," Kano remarked as he observed the monster, "I thought it was gonna be more intimidating, y'know? Maybe some cat," he snickered as he recalled Kido's love for cats.

Kido karate chopped his head. "Shut up, you idiot! Focus on the boss!"

"G-Got it…" he said, holding his head with a slightly pained expression.

"Haruka! Go!" Takane cried frantically. The boy gave her a quick nod and he charged toward the phoru.

"Power Burster!" he shouted as he smashed the ground with his sword as a large eruption of fire rose from the ground. It engulfed the phoru and its health drained one bar into the yellow zone.

Kido immediately replaced Haruka's place after the flames diminished, her staff in the air, pointed at the phoru as she said, "Chain Fireball!" a ball of fire magically formed from the wand, firing at the phoru and slowly lowered its health. A small icon appeared over its head, a frantic orange-red with a panicked face and many beads of sweat on its cheek. The top corner read 1x as the phoru's whole appearance turned red.

"Good! It's burned!" Takane shouted "Momo, you should do some sort of attack, or else you won't really get any experience!"

With a pout, Momo replied, "Alright, alright! I'll go!" gripping her spear, Momo ran in, standing in front of the phoru.

With no hesitation, Momo said, "Gain Force!" and an orange-black sphere appeared from her hand, absorbing some mana from the phoru as a bead on her spear lit up, completely charging it. With no time to spare, Momo immediately cried, "Tempest Dance!"

Momo's body moved on its own while it performed a stunt of stabs, slashes, and flips with her spear, not allowing the phoru a moment to attack. Momo leaped backwards, double jumping and running on an invisible platform downwards as light orange leaves littered her path and disappeared. The phoru's health bar was red, only a chunk of it on its life bar. With no time to spare, Shintaro charged toward it, slamming down his sword onto the ground as Haruka did, but shouting, "Flame Geyser!"

The little bit of red on the phoru's health bar was reduced to a tiny pixel as if it was forcefully stopped instead of naturally depleting. Dismissing it as the health bar just being a little bit over the damage his skill had done, Shintaro charged toward the phoru, leaping in the air prepared to slice the phoru in half when the sky suddenly turned black. Shocked by the immediate change in light, Shintaro's blow faltered as he tumbled to the ground. Quickly recovering, Shintaro whipped his head toward the sky, a slightly irritated look on his face as he wondered as to what in the world had just happened.

* * *

Shintaro's look of irritation slowly changed to an expression of shock as he saw a long, thick, and scaly creature creep onto the sky. He immediately looked to see if his friends were alright and saw them look as surprised as he was. The words caught in their throats as they saw the strange event unravel before their eyes. Slowly focusing his attention to the sky, Shintaro was only met with the gaping mouth of a snake, its fangs bared and its bright red eyes seared into his mind.

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A/N: Prologue is done! Hope you liked it. Make sure you R &amp; R, I would really appreciate it! ^w^


	3. Chapter 1: Names and Games

**Mini: I'm back with another chapter guys! owo**

**Dan: Yay.**

**Mini: Very short Author note beginning! ^w^;; Anyway, enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN ELSWORD OR KAGEPRO. THEY BELONG TO THEIR RIGHTFUL OWNERS.**

* * *

"What's this?" Haruka leaned over Takane's shoulder, peering at her computer screen.

Takane jumped in her seat. "Oh, it's just you. You scared me! I thought it would be Shintaro, trying to sabotage me."

Haruka looked puzzled. "Is this a video game or something?" His chin lightly brushed Takane's shoulder.

Takane flushed. "U-Um, yeah."

Haruka smiled his bright smile. "I think I saw Shintaro registering for this too! He still can't decide on a good username."

Takane's eyes widened and she laughed maliciously, "Maybe I can make that decision for him…" She jumped out of her seat and ran to the door. "Keep watch for me, okay?"

Haruka grinned. "Sure!"

Takane smiled and leapt out of the room. As soon as she had gone, Haruka slid into her seat and deleted her selected username. _How about something better_? He thought with a wry smile.

Shintaro sat back in his seat, his eyes closed in wonder as to what he should name his character. On his computer screen, a red swordsman that held a large white sword with a thick rectangular blade with a semi-oval hole and a red-black stripe hilt and two gold buttons. He spiky red hair wearing a red long-sleeved shirt with thin red lines and a four-way strap leading to a dull silver shoulder pad on his right shoulder. He wore white shorts that had a thick black fold at the ends and a wide black strap with a golden button and red stripes at its sides. A black stripe behind each pant leg with a red outline, extending from the shirt to the black folds. A brown leather belt with a gold buckle loosely looped around his pants and shirt, connecting them. The boy had black and red half-finger gloves, two gold buttons on each black stripe with two large dull silver rings on his wrist. He had short black socks with a thin yellow stripe near the ends, dull silver knight shoes that covered the whole front half of his foot and thinned as it ended with a fully covered heel. A blank Enter Your Character Name box was in front of him.

A girl with a light blue, baggy jacket, black pants, and cyan hair and clothes tiptoed toward the username box inside of Shintaro's computer. She tapped the blank username box, quickly typed in RedRidingScarf and submitted it.

Shintaro sighed and opened his eyes, expecting to see the blank username. He spotted the girl and gasped. "Ene! What the-" He glanced at the rest of the computer page and his eyes widened. "You _changed _my username?"

Ene stuck out her tongue. "See ya, _Master._" She mocked him. Before Shintaro could react, she disappeared from the computer.

Takane quietly crept away from the doorway in Shintaro's room and returned to her own computer. Taking a quick glance into her room, she saw Haruka sitting at her desk and cautiously walked over.

"Haruka? What are you-" She cut herself short when she saw the computer screen.

Her character was already finished, ready for submission, its gender already changed to female with its curved black hand blade with a wide iron outline on the blade held in the character's right hand, a silver metallic arm with armor plates lining along the top replacing the human one on the left. The character had a bandage covering its chest, her abdomen and back having two silver buttons each with a strap that went along her waist to the button on the back. Her hair was a jet black, its hair similar to Takane's and a faint scar near the corner of her yellow sapphire eyes. Two golden buttons on the shoulder held a dull iron band as it connected to a black shoulder pad and sleeve with a light grey line down the middle. It had a maroon glove with a black cloth on the back of the hand that was etched with three silver buttons and light grey finger sleeves. The character's pants were black, a thin grey line connected to the top to the bottom on each side. The ends of the pants were a wide black stripe that went around the pants with a grey lining on on the edges. Her shoes had a iron plating on the top, the rest a dark grey and a spike near the heel.

Takane stuttered in surprise and looked at the username above the character's head, reading it over and over to make sure her vision wasn't failing her.

"H-HaTakaRu?!" she cried, outrageous at the username.

"Like it?" Haruka smiled like nothing was wrong.

Whipping her head to look at Haruka she internally shrieked in anger and yelled, "W-Why'd you change it!?"

Haruka tipped his head to the side, a confused look on his face. "What's wrong with it?" He grinned that enchanting, blindingly sweet and innocent smile of his that had always taken Takane's breath away. "It's cute!"

Takane immediately turned a dark shade of red, steam seemingly rising from her head. She grabbed Haruka's cheek and pinched it, somehow managing to scold him about doing things without her permission while her face shone a bright red. Releasing her grip on Haruka, she turned around with her arms crossed and murmured, "Baka…"

Haruka rubbed his cheek. "Sorry Takaneeeee….I thought you'd like it! You can change it back if you want."

Takane huffed. As she opened her mouth, she saw how dejected he looked, though he tried to hide it. "Fine…" she found herself saying. "I'll keep it."

Haruka's eyes brightened. "You will? Yay!" He gave her a brief, but tight hug and skipped out of the room.

Takane blinked and stood stock-still in the middle of the room, frozen with surprise. _He...He hugged me? But...he's...he's never really hugged me before._ Despite her flushed face, she smiled to herself. _He hugged me…_

Haruka smiled and burst into the Mekakushi Dan living room. His smile was even more dazzling than it usually was. "Hey guys! Wanna play a game?"

* * *

Shintaro hovered his mouse over the color scheme option, pondering whether or not to change the character he had the way it was. So far, he had only altered the character's hair to look like his own. Deciding not to change anything, Shintaro moved his mouse from the character color scheme button and activated virtual reality mode, plugging in his headgear as he sank into his chair. Before he turned on the headgear, Momo burst into his room, "Onii-chan!"

Shintaro toppled to the ground in surprise, not expecting her to come. "W-What?" he stuttered, dusting himself off as he stood up to face his younger sister.

"We're all going to play that stupid game of yours that Haruka was so excited about in the living room," she said, slightly turning her head with a small pout, "We thought that we should all try it out and see if it would be worth a try."

Shintaro gave a slight nod of understanding, "Alright then...you guys can go at your own pace, I'll wait for you at the first town."

Momo nodded and spun to face the door, heading downstairs to tell the Dan the news she had gotten. Shintaro put his helmet on again and slowly searched for the power button. Finding a small bump on the side of the helmet, he slid his finger over it and pressed it. The glass visor covering his eyes immediately turned into a screen with multiple colored wires, connecting to the game. Shintaro opened his eyes and looked around, breathing in the artificial air. A sign floated in the sky saying Ruben.

* * *

The living room was filled with eight sets of multicolored laptops. The members of the Mekakushi Dan frowned and looked at the space.

"How are we gonna fit…?" Hibiya looked around.

There were only two small couches, so that only two people could sit on each. The other four people would have to sit on the floor.

"I'm not sitting on the floor," Takane grumbled.

Haruka smiled brightly. "I'll sit wherever you sit, Takane!"

Takane's eyes widened and her cheeks reddened slightly. "U-Uh…O-Okay." She plopped down on one of the sofas. Haruka took a seat right next to her and grinned at her. Even as she stared at her computer screen, she could see, _feel_ the smile on his face.

"I'll sit on the ground," Seto offered.

"Uuuuuu…" Mary clung to Seto's side. "I wanna sit next to you."

Seto smiled and took a seat on the floor with Mary.

Kido bit her lip. "I can't play on the floor." She sat down on the other couch.

Hibiya glanced toward the ground. "I'll sit on the sof-"

Momo grabbed his arm and pulled him to the ground next to her.

Hibiya looked at her. "What is it now?"

Momo flicked her head toward Kano. "Sh!"

Hibiya looked at her, confused. Momo realized that she was still holding on to his wrist. They locked eyes for a single moment. Momo quickly turned to her computer and let go of his arm.

Kano glanced around. "Oi Kidooooo! Looks like I can sit down next to you!"

Kido closed her eyes and sighed.

Kano took a seat right next to her, and suddenly, she was painfully aware that his arm was jamming into her elbow, his shoulder brushing against her's. They both shifted away at the same moment. Kido didn't dare look up from her computer screen, but she could feel his brief gaze. Kido's hand trembled slightly as she selected a girl with bright purple hair that were tied into puffballs in front of her ears and dark purple eyes swayed back and forth. She wore a short purple dress with a white outline on the bottom edge and a thin stripe going down the middle and back. Her neck area had a large white flayed collar with a thin purple outline on the edges and a circle outline on the shoulders. In the middle of the collar, a short magenta tie hung little ways off from her chest. A loose leather belt with a gold outline loosely hung sideways on her waist. Her legs had high leggings that slightly overlapped her dark brown buckle shoes with a gold buckle on it. She held a magenta staff with a circular head and three purple spikes on each side with two hands behind her waist. She immediately heard Kano attempting to suppress his laughter and look up at him with a slightly red face and irritation.

"G-Go away!" she hissed, punching him in the shoulder.

"G-Got it!" Kano weakly replied, a tinge of laughter in his tone as he crawled back to his own laptop.

Regaining her composure, Kido selected the character and had to edit many things before confirming it. Now that it was altered, the character no longer had a short dress, but a purple hoodie similar to Kido's and a knee-high skirt. She changed the colors of her wand to a dark purple with dark magenta spikes, and added an undershirt that covered the bottom half of the character's face. On the character name box, Kido typed in BlindFold1, taking the only thing she could think of from the top of her head.

"I'm done," Kido called the rest of the Dan, shuffling around for her headset, "I'll meet you on the other side I guess."

Placing the headgear on her head, Kido slowly pressed the button and closed her eyes, entering the virtual reality. As Kido logged on, Kano approvingly looked over his character; liking his design and deciding to just edit the color scheme and the eyes to his liking. The character was a pale boy with a dark grey zipperless jacket with a white outline and white buttons etched on his left. On the back of the jacket, there was a simple design that had a power button in the middle. He had a large grin on his face with two red eyes, the one on the right edited to have a more cat-like eye with a vague power button in it. A thin, red crack went through the eye, going all the way down to his jawline. He wore a black undershirt with white lines and the default power button on the middle, the sleeves outstretching to his gloves. The character's gloves remained its default design, only the top hand area having a light grey outline instead of a dark purple one. On his neck, there was a thin line connecting two black headphones with white power button on each side. He had a loose black belt going sideways on his waist while the rest of it curved loosely on the side of his thighs. He wore black jeans and high shoes with a grey and light grey template with gold buttons. His hair was changed to a gold-blonde and black and white taser-like weapons slightly tilted inwards in a semicircle around him. On the description, they were apparently called Nasod Dynamos. Confirming the character and giving it the name of D3C31V3R, Kano accepted and blazed through the backstory, pressing the enter virtual reality button and plugging in his helmet. Shifting his gaze at Kido as he held his helmet in front of him, he internally smiled and lay his head down next to hers with a goofy grin plastered on his face.

"Oh sheesh, everyone's pretty much done," Momo sighed, looking around the room and noticing that Seto and Mary were already preparing to dive into the virtual reality.

Hibiya took his helmet and plopped it on his head, "You're slow, Obaa-san," he muttered.

"Hey! Don't call me Obaa-san!" she complained as Hibiya dove into the virtual reality as well.

With a huff, Momo took another glance on her screen and observed her character, double checking that she had made the right choice. Closing one eye with a small pout on her lips, Momo's mouth stretched into a smile as she lightly nodded in approval. Confirming her character, she thought a bit and named it 574R_1D0L, mentally scolding herself for being able to figure out what that meant like her brother could. Dismissing the thought, Momo plugged in her headset and dove into the virtual reality world, closing her eyes. A sudden bright light met her vision as a welcoming air drove into her nostrils. Slowly opening her eyes, the bright green area came clearly into view. Carefully looking around, she saw a peaceful town and saw a large sign floating above that read Ruben Village, its detailed and crisp font clearly displayed to represent the village. A glaring sunlight shone in the sky as she tried to scan the area for her friends. As she began to wander, someone called out to her, "Oi! Momo, over here!"

* * *

A/N: I don't really like the ending TT oTT I'll edit it once I think of something else. Laziness to describe other chars til next chapter. :3 R &amp; R! Have a nice day and stuff. XD EDIT: I'll probably just make the next part a description of all the characters so that I don't have to make a giant paragraph on it. XD


	4. Chapter 2: Nine Eyes and Specialties

**Mini: I'm back with another chapter guys! The third one has already started too!**

**Everyone else: Finally!**

**Disclaimer: ****I do not own Kagerou Project or Elsword! They belong to their rightful owners!**

* * *

Turning her head around, Momo saw her brother's hand outstretched in a wave as he called out to her with a neutral look on his face. Rushing over, Momo slightly tilted her head to the side and saw the rest of the Dan sitting at a large wooden table, discussing about something. Shintaro awkwardly greeted her to the table and gave her a seat, sitting down in his own chair after his sister had sat down. Taking a deep breath, Shintaro closed his eyes and cleared his throat, gaining the attention of everyone at the table as he began to speak. With a focused glint in his expression, Shintaro began to explain, "Today's agenda will be to finish the tutorial for you guys while Takane and I help separate groups." taking a breath, he continued, "Since there can only be three people at the max in each party, Takane and I will have to go in different parties as the 'MVP' or most valuable player to aid each group." scanning the table, Shintaro bit his lip and continued, "Although Takane and I are already level 4, one group will have to be an all beginner group." Shintaro slightly narrowed his eyes as an idea sparked in his head

"Haruka can be the all beginner group MVP." he decided, giving Haruka a trusting gaze.

Taken by surprise, Haruka slightly jumped and replied, "What? Why me?"

Shintaro straightened his posture and began to explain, "I chose you because I know that you can handle it. I know that you played that shooting game pretty well after you saw Takane play it, and I believe in you."

Slightly taken aback by his compliment, Haruka gave him a quick nod of understanding and gestured for Shintaro to continue the meeting.

"Onii-chan is being surprisingly mature," Momo whispered in Takane's ear.

Takane lightly smirked and replied, "He's always like this when it comes to RPGs like this one."

Momo was slightly surprised by how precise and serious her brother was being about a simple game. Internally smiling at seeing a new side of her brother, she continued to intently listen in on his explanation.

By the time Shintaro was done talking, he had separated each member into a party. He would go with Momo and Hibiya, Takane would go with Kido and Kano, and Haruka would go with Seto and Mary.

Takane frowned. "Will you be okay on your own, Haruka?"

Haruka gave Takane one of his bright jubilant smiles and said, "Don't worry Takane! It'll just be a few dungeons, ne?"

Takane stared at the ground, her face red with embarrassment as she stomped a few feet away from him.

"That idiot," she grumbled as she prepared to press the start dungeon button on the screen in front of her while making sure Kido and Kano were ready. But just before she turned away, she could've sworn that Haruka's face had a tinge of red.

"Oi, baKano," Kido said, her eyes looking over his character.

"Wha- baKano!?" Kano replied in a mockingly hurt tone, "What's with your character, ne?"

Kido immediately replied by trying to pull his arm off of his body, a slight blush on her face as she muttered, "Shut up."

Kano laughed and squeaked in pain, "Hahahaha! Owowowowow," he continued until Kido let go.

Kido turned toward Takane and called, "Oi, we're ready, you can start."

Takane gave a slightly hesitant nod as she looked back at her party again before pressing the button.

* * *

Shintaro saw Takane's party vanish in a flash of light and triggered the green light to make sure his party was ready. Momo gave him a confident smile and a short salute while Hibiya just shrugged. She gave him a scolding look and slapped his arm.

Hibiya rubbed his shoulder. "Ow!" He protested. "What was that for?"

Momo stuck out her tongue and swished past him, her shoulder brushing against his arm.

Hibiya blinked and let out a short sigh. Even in the virtual reality, he could feel his cheeks warming up ever so slightly. _There's no way that I'm feeling nervous and blushing around Obaa-san! _He put a hand to his face. _But...the last time this happened was with Hi...Hiyori. _He glanced down at his username, ih8cats, and bit his lip. _There's no way! _

Momo suppressed a giggle and said gasping for air pointing at his username, "W-What kind of username is that?" she breathed, "I knew you didn't like cats... but using it as a username?" she almost fell on the floor.

Hibiya gave her an irritated glare and took a quick glance at her username and protested, "What about 574R_1D0L, eh? That sounds like something a ten year old would use!"

Momo immediately stopped laughing and flicked his head, "Sh-Shut up!" she grumbled childishly as she looked away. _What am I doing?_ She thought to herself. _There's no way! I mean, he's TWELVE! _She gave a little sigh and shook her head to get rid of her thoughts.

Hibiya turned his head forward, looking at Momo and slightly smirking at her reaction. As he nodded an okay at Shintaro to start the dungeon. Awkwardly nodding, Shintaro tapped onto the start dungeon.

Haruka saw a flash of light from Shintaro's party and looked at his start dungeon button, making sure his party members were ready.

Mary nervously looked at Seto, her stance a bit shaky with a slight glint of worry in her eyes as she stuttered, "Uuuuu… S-Seto, is this r-really okay?"

Seto gave Mary a reassuring smile and patted her head, "It'll be fine Mary!" he made a confident pose and said while point at himself, "I'll protect you like I did when I found you!"

Mary hesitantly nodded, feeling a bit better about herself now that she knew Seto had her backed up. Putting on a fierce but adorable look, Mary blurted, "I-I'm ready!" and nearly toppled over from her outburst before Haruka pressed the button and started the dungeon.

* * *

As each Dan member spawned in each dungeon, a screen appeared a few ways off in front of them , blocking the area forward that said in glaring red text _Dungeon...START! _When the area disappeared into little pixels, each party marched forward, hacking and slashing each enemy until a white text appeared over a door made of rock and randomly embroidered with vine in random areas. Smashing the door open, each member teleported to the next room. Bashing through each enemy, slicing them in half, stabbing them, or exploding them, each member of the Dan slowly progressed through each dungeon. Smashing open doors, taking a quick glance at the map and charging toward the enemies. Eventually, a grand door with a larger door appeared. Its state very old and weak as if it were about to fall at any moment. Kicking open the door, a flash of light met their vision as the boss room came into view. Instead of seeing the boss, however, each group saw the rest of the Dan. Confused looks on their face, they grouped together.

"What the- Where's the boss?" Shintaro muttered, an annoyed look on his face as he looked around.

Takane looked around the room, a confused glint in her expression. The Dan jogged toward the middle of the clearing, meeting up to discuss about the strange occurrence.

"The boss should be here, why isn't he though?" Shintaro started, his eyes darting around as he pointed a finger to the ground.

"I don't know either, but the really weird thing is that we all saw each other instead of the boss in each of our dungeons," Takane replied, her sword plunged into the ground as she crossed her arms.

"Maybe it was an automatic link party?" Shintaro suggested.

"But nobody clicked on the link party option," Takane pointed out, her face stoned in confusion.

"Maybe it's a glitch?" Shintaro continued.

"We'll just have to assume so," Takane shrugged with a sigh, "Let's go on then."

* * *

**Later**

Shintaro slowly opened his eyes, blinking to get the black spots that dotted his vision. Squinting at the bright blue sky, he immediately sat up and whipped his head around, mentally begging for his friends to be okay. Scanning his surroundings, he saw Kano and Kido curled up next to each other, still unconscious with a calm expression. Panning his view, he saw Mary and Seto together in the same state. Slightly jumping, he saw Momo disturbingly close to Hibiya and shook it off as he continued looking around. He lightly chuckled with an uncertain look as he saw Haruka on top of Takane and using a strangely large patch of phoru fur as a pillow. Getting up, Shintaro felt a silky cloth under his hand and widened his eyes in shock. Looking down where his hand was, he saw a bright red scarf and immediately put a hand over his mouth, his eyes full of shock and surprise. He only immediately placed a hand on his forehead, feeling a bit dizzy as his vision verted from blurry to clear. Silently breathing in gulps of air, he looked back at the scarf and hesitantly touched it as it slowly disappeared and reappeared in his inventory. Slightly taken aback, Shintaro looked to the side in slight irritation. As he equipped the scarf, he felt a familiar aura overtake him, he saw a clumsy-looking girl with dark chocolate hair tugging on the edge of her scarf as she laughed with a carefree smile. Shintaro clutched the scarf on his neck and felt his eyes go watery. He rubbed his tears away with his sleeve and went to awake the others, leaving his memories behind to face what was ahead of him.

* * *

"Oi, wake up," Shintaro said, prodding Momo's face with his finger.

"Huh? Wha-?" Momo abruptly stopped as soon as she saw Hibiya right in her face.

Jumping and clumsily scrambling backward into a tree, Momo's face was overtaken by a bright shade of red. Shintaro rose an eyebrow and sighed in exasperation with a hopeless look at his sister.

"Ah." Momo said in an awkward tone, staring at her brother with a dumbfounded look as he went to wake Hibiya.

Hibiya blinked his eyes open, staring up at the blue sky. "I fell asleep?" His eyes seemed saddened, a hint of melancholy in his tone.

"You okay?" Momo asked, concerned. She scooched back towards him.

Hibiya levered himself up on his elbow. "Me? I'm fine, I'm fine." He leaned against a tree and brought his knees to his chest. _I had a dream about it again..._ It was not uncommon for him to dream of the heat haze daze,but this time something had changed. _It was Momo dying over and over again...not Hiyori._

Momo studied him out of the corner of her eye, looking worried.

Shintaro had let Momo take care of it as he crept over to Seto and gave him a slightly tense poke as his eyes fluttered open. Clearing his vision, Seto's expression slowly turned into a worried smile, wondering why in the world Mary was sleeping right next to him. Slowly scooching away from her to look around, he saw Shintaro and immediately looked down at Mary, his smile still on his face as he gently shook Mary awake.

"Mary," he muttered, "It's time to wake up.":

"Mmm?" Mary grumbled, one of her eyes opening as she saw Seto looking down at her with the sunlight greeting her eyes. Immediately squinting, Mary lept into Seto's arms and squeaked.

Seto soothingly rubbed her back and muttered encouragement in a reassuring tone. Kido had already woken up as soon as Shintaro was only a few steps away. Kido immediately leapt back and kicked Kano in the gut in instinct. Kano jolted awake, clutching his stomach as he looked around wide-eyed to see who had given him a "kick start". Kido was backed up to a birch tree, attempting to hide her bright red face. Kano weakly smiled as he collapsed to the ground again and trembled in pain from the kick.

"S-Sorry…" Kido muttered as she slowly loosened her shoulders that were scrunched up and tense.

Shintaro looked over Takane and Haruka and just laughed, plotting a devious plan for his friend. Poking Takane in the face and running away to hide in a bush, he saw Takane wake up as she immediately saw Haruka on top of her and immediately blushed. Shintaro attempted to laugh in the bush without shaking it, but to no prevail, Takane saw the bush rustle and stomped over to it with a fiery aura as she roared, "SHINTAROOOOOO," and pulled him out of the bush only to start yelling at him.

"Well I'm sorry, but it was too good to let up!" he cried, still trying to suppress more laughter.

"Yeah? You think it's funny ya lil punk!?" Takane retorted, her nose scrunched up in disgust.

Shintaro attempted to get up, still trying not to fall over again from laughing so hard.

"And-!" Takane stopped shortas she turned toward Haruka, a slight tinge of pink on her cheeks.

Haruka still lay asleep with a content smile as he nudged the phoru fur. Takane immediately started blushing even more, her words becoming stutters as she looked at Haruka in his unconscious state. But Shintaro could have sworn that Haruka's eyes fluttered ever so slightly, his smile twitching upwards.

Shintaro looked at Kido, catching her attention as she firmly nodded.

"Kano, get off of me," she growled as she shook him off her leg, "Guys, we need to talk about today's events," she called out as every Dan member stopped what they were doing and stood up as they walked toward the village. The unchanging sun still hung in the sky and the sky still a bright blue. In the midst, two blazing red eyes glowed brightly and slowly faded away unnoticed as players looked in shock as they slowly began to disintegrate into tiny pixels. Unheard screams of confusion and sorrow muffled by the vast sky.

* * *

N/A: And done! Hope you liked it! R &amp; R and hope for a sooner update! ^^


	5. Chapter 3: Eyes and Users

**Mini: ***hides behind shield* I'm sorry! I've been inactive. Don't shoot me. TT_TT

**Hibiya: ***fires cannon* WHERE DID THE STORIES GO TO.

**Mini: **Uwaaaaaa TTnTT

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kagerou Project or Elsword, they belong to their rightful owners.**

* * *

Sitting down at the table, the Dan all simultaneously let out a breath after finishing both dungeons and completing the quests. Each member, not including Shintaro and Takane, had leveled up three levels and were ready to face the last boss in the area. Before starting the dungeon, the Dan formed a link party to all help in defeating the boss together and completing the quest.

"Okay... first of all. We have to discuss what happened back there," Kido cut in the silence, her eyes deadly serious.

Everybody at the table simultaneously nodded in agreement, gathering up their focus to discuss the topic.

"We need to talk about why there were snakes, what happened to the other players, and why we're completely fine." She finished as she looked at every member.

"Well...we're probably okay _because_ of the snakes being involved." Takane said thoughtfully. "Whatever they did didn't affect us since they're part of us."

Haruka added a few lines to a sketch in his notebook, which was somehow in the game. He frowned, tapping his pencil on his forehead. "D'ya think we could use our powers _inside_ the game?"

Kido frowned, "It's possible," she paused, "Let me give it a shot."

As soon as her sentence finished, a faint glow of red was seen and Kido disappeared. Everybody blinked, registering what had just happened before going crazy with shock.

"Well, they apparently do work," Kido confirmed.

Shintaro narrowed his eyes in slight suspicion, interrupting the small celebration of the discovery.

"But then it would have to fit in the game's standards," he countered, a singular finger in the air.

"What would that mean?" Momo asked, tilting her head to the side in confusion.

Without responding, Shintaro looked at Kano and stated, "Kano, try turning into that phoru over there."

Kano gave an awkward grin as a faint glow of red was once more seen. In Kano's place, a thief phoru stood in front of them, its eyes obviously resembling Kano's. Kano looked at himself in slight shock and amusement, dancing around in the body.

"So Kano can turn into any enemy, huh?" Seto whistled, impressed.

"I bet yours is even better, Seto," Shintaro replied, "Go and attack a random enemy and use your eye power."

Seto looked at him with a slight sense of hesitance and firmly stood in front of a bandit, his bow stretched back. Blinking once, his eyes glowed a bright red and Seto immediately saw where the bandit was going to swing and jumped to the side, dodging its attack and immediately shooting it square in the back. Seto slowly stood up, his eyes widening in amazement and surprise.

"How'd you know?" Seto asked Shintaro.

Shintaro shrugged, "Assumption I guess," he muttered.

Continuing, he explained, "Each of your eye powers do different kinds of things. Momo, yours attracts mobs toward you. Mary, yours causes stun. Takane, you can mess around with an enemies' or players' gear and change their durability temporarily and even add bad stats to them. Hibiya, your accuracy goes sky high. And Haruka, yours is basically the same but it just uses up a lot of your energy." Shintaro sucked in a large breath after he finished.

Each member looked at him in awe, especially Momo.

"How-?!" she cried, her arms in the air.

"Happens," Takane shrugged. her eyes shut as she sighed, "Anyway, I need to add you guys to my friend list."

"Right, we have to do that," Shintaro nodded.

"Let's tell our usernames in order, then.," Kido suggested,"Mine is BlindFold1," her face slightly pink in embarrassment.

Seto sweat dropped, stuttering, "N-NatureLord2…" he trailed, looking to the side.

"D3C31V3R desu~" Kano smirked.

When they all had gotten to Mary, she only stuttered as her face glowed a bright red.

"Mary? What's your username?" Shintaro asked, an eyebrow raised.

Mary huddled into a fluffball, refusing to say her username. An awkward silence filled the air, Mary shivering in a fluffball. Seto walked over to her and crouched, asking her what her username was. Seto turned a bit pale but blushed at the same time, a strangely happy-looking expression on his face as he said as calmly and curtly as possible, "BLislife," he then immediately ran off in the opposite direction.

"That was expected," Kido sighed. "How about you, Momo?"

"Uh...574R_1D0L…" Momo said reluctantly.

Hibiya snorted.

Momo sent him a death glare. "Don't you say a word."

"Not gonna say anything," Hibiya promised. "What's your name, Takane?"

Takane blinked. "Um...it's uh...HaTakaRu…" She mumbled.

"HaTakaRu?" Shintaro laughed. "What kind of name-"

"Shut up!" Takane growled.

"I put it as her username when she was changing yours!" Haruka grinned.

Kano raised an eyebrow. "What's yours then, Shintaro?"

Shintaro blinked and glanced down at the red muffler he had equipped. "Uh...RedRidingScarf."

A small silence dropped in the group. Kano, Kido, and Seto exchanged brief glances and Takane shifted around uncomfortably.

Suddenly, Kano broke out in a silly smirk. "Nice one, Takane! What about yours, Hibiya?"

Hibiya started slightly, but wisely realized what Kano was doing. "Mine's, uh, ih8cats."

Momo suppressed a giggle.

"It's not like yours is any better, Momo!" Hibiya humphed. "574R_1D0L?"

Shintaro held Momo back before she started attacking Hibiya. "Alright, what's yours Haruka?"

Haruka blinked. "Hm? Oh, mine's HarukaKokoro."

Takane made a sound in between a laugh and a cough. "H-HarukaKokoro? Why the hell do you have such a girly name?"

Haruka flashed one of his trademark smiles. "I dunno. It seemed like a nice name!"

Takane flushed a slight red and didn't respond.

"You know, there are times when I think that Haruka knows a lot more than he lets on," Momo murmured to Hibiya.

"Yeah," he agreed, "Until he does something so Haruka-like that you know he's as innocent as he seems."

Momo glanced at him. He seemed to have returned to his normal self, which was reassuring. Hibiya caught her look and they locked eyes. Usually, he was the first one to look away, but he firmly held her gaze until she turned her head.

"Are you sure you're okay?" She asked him again. "Did you have a dream of the Heat Haze?"

Hibiya hesitated, looking down at his feet. "Yeah...something like that."

Momo frowned, unsatisfied with the vague answer, but she let it stand.

No one seemed to notice the quiet exchange, not even Shintaro, who was deep into the group conversation. Haruka, however, hid a smile behind his drawing notebook and added the last finishing touches to his drawing-one of both Hibiya and Momo, sitting and laughing together underneath a tree. A faint Hiyori stood watching, only half visible, with a hint of a bittersweet smile on her face.

"Did you hear me, Haruka?" Takane glanced at him, worried.

Haruka blinked. "Hm? Sorry! Can ya say it again?"

Takane bit her lip. "I said that I think that you shouldn't really use your power here. Even though it's just in a game, it might take up all your energy…" She stopped and stared at her feet.

_And erase your memory...again._

She didn't say it, but everyone heard it.

Haruka took a deep breath, his face calm and solemn. He reached over to Takane's face, tilting her chin upwards. Her eyes widened slightly with surprise, unable to look anywhere but Haruka's eyes. He smiled a warm, sweet, yet strangely faint smile. "I won't use it." He promised. "Don't worry about me."

Takane felt her breath skid over his wrist. "O..kay." Their gaze locked together, the air charging with electricity and tension.

It was Haruka who broke away first. He let go of her chin and grinned his normal grin. "So! Let's go find out what's going on!"

Shintaro glanced at Takane, who stood, frozen in place. "Let's go check out the nearest town," he decided.

The rest of the Dan nodded in agreement. The group began to walk through the forest.

Takane touched the bottom of her jaw. _I've never seen Haruka like that before. He's never been so serious... _She snuck a peek at him out of the corner of her eye. He was uncharacteristically quiet, gazing off into the distance and lost in thought. It could have been her imagination, but she could have sworn that a faint blush brushed his cheeks. _Does that mean he…?_ She shook her head. _I've got to focus on other things for now._

_Ba-boom. Ba-boom._ Haruka's heart pounded in his ears. _Why...why do I feel like this?_ He glanced at Takane. _I've talked to her before! She's a good friend! But that...that felt different. _He felt his face redden slightly, but he smiled to himself. _It was different...but I liked it._

Hibiya stared up at the clouds, his bangs falling over his eyes. "Ne, obaa-san."

"Don't call me obaa san." Momo retorted habitually.

"I've been thinking." He gazed thoughtfully at the blue sky. "It's clear that Takane likes Haruka, and I'm pretty sure that Haruka likes Takane back."

Momo nodded.

Hibiya kicked a pebble in the pathway. "Takane hasn't said a thing about it to him...probably since she's too embarrassed to, or she thinks that he doesn't like her back, which is the way most of us would think."

Momo felt the warmth gathering in her cheeks and she quickly turned away as she nodded.

Hibiya crossed his arms. "Haruka is the complete opposite of that, though. He doesn't get embarrassed about anything, and he wouldn't care if she didn't like him back, just as long as he told her. He wouldn't waste any time. So...why hasn't he done anything?"

Mom scratched her head. "Maybe...maybe he doesn't know that he loves her." She studied Hibiya out of the corner of her eye. She couldn't read the expression on his face.

"Yeah…" He said slowly. "Maybe he doesn't."

Momo glanced at him, concerned. "Why are you worrying about all this anyway? I thought you wouldn't be interested in this kind of stuff."

Hibiya immediately turned red and stuttered, "I-I just k-kinda... uh…"

Momo rose an eyebrow but decided not to worry about it.

Hibiya only looked at the ground, flustered.

"Anyway," Shintaro started, scratching his head with a sigh, "Let's get going to the next town and level up as much as possible to get to our first job change."

Takane's eyes flashed with a little competition as she said with a bold tone, "I bet I'll get to the next class before you, NEET boy."

Shintaro smiled angrily and replied, "Ah? Is that a challenge?"

As their heated argument went on, the rest of the Dan sighed as they made their way to the village of Elder.

* * *

A/N: I'm really sorry! I'll try to get on track again over winter break. I don't know when chapter four'll be out. So please be patient!


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